Obama okay with Beijing monitoring Indo-Pak ties: What's your take?

Obama in the end has proved himself as Obummer. It is outrageous to accept the fact that China would be monitoring or rather supporting the ties between India and Pakistan when China itself is unable to maintain proper ties with India. The statement has a very sinister motive behind it. Probably Obama wants China to be the bully of Asia while US will be the bully of the rest of the world.

Obama is a bad news to India. I hope this will wake up MMS and Co from its US-India love-feast and deal with US in a more realistic way. Interesting times ahead.

BEIJING/NEW DELHI: A week before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected as state guest in Washington, US president Barack Obama has given a monitoring role to China in South Asia, particularly between India and Pakistan, a fact that has stuck in New Delhi's throat.

The US and China have agreed to work together to bring about stable and peaceful relations in all of South Asia, Obama said during his joint briefing with Chinese president Hu Jintao in Beijing. Hu, who spoke first in the briefing, did not mention Pakistan or South Asia.

They (US and China) "support the efforts of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terrorism, maintain domestic stability and achieve sustainable economic and social development, and support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan," the joint statement said.

This is a rare occasion when a US president has acknowledged that Beijing has a role to play in the India-Pakistan relationship. The move, if serious, runs counter to predictions of US foreign policy experts that the US would not acquiesce in a future Chinese hegemony in the region.

While New Delhi maintained a studied silence on the joint statement, it has infuriated officials in the foreign office because it brings back nasty memories of another US-China joint statement by Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin on June 29, 1998. Then too, it was Clinton and Jiang, in what India considered "offensive" language, scolding India and Pakistan for their nuclear tests. India had reacted sharply then, buffetted by general international condemnation after the tests.

But Tuesday's statement cuts at the heart of an Indian effort to build a relationship with the US without China complicating the issue. Former diplomat KC Singh said, "The statement was uncalled for and gratuitous, and serves to poison the chalice before the PM goes to Washington."

The reality is perhaps that the joint statement was drafted by Obama's China officials who don't carry sensitivities of India with them. But that it was allowed to go through signals to many Indian strategists that Obama may be more than pliant to China, giving it a role in a region where it's bound to come into conflict with a country Obama says is a US strategic partner, India.

The question is whether the US was pressured into giving China a bigger role in the region in return for other favours in areas like the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues. The Indian government, which has always opposed third party intervention in the India-Pakistan dialogue, is likely to be worried about the new development.

The joint statement also shows that Washington is agreeable to the idea of China playing a bigger role in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is another issue that can rattle New Delhi.

"The two sides are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace, stability and development in that region," the joint statement further said explaining the parameters of US-China cooperation in the region.

A Chinese foreign ministry official later said the two leaders did not discuss specifics of the situation in South Asia because there was not much time available for that. There were a lot of other issues for them to discuss, he said.

But the joint statement is the product of weeks of discussions between two sides and the US administration officials did approve the phrases concerning China's role in South Asia.

After a gap of nearly a decade, a joint statement issued by the US and China has named India and Pakistan.

US President Barack Obama repeated this during a press briefing later, saying the two countries had agreed to work together to bring about “peaceful relations in all of South Asia.”

This will go down poorly in India. Not only has it long argued its relations with Pakistan are a bilateral issue, the joint statement has given the impression the US sees China as the dominant power broker in Asia.On Tuesday, Obama and Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao announced plans to work together on a range of international issues. But the statement had an unexpected line: that the two sides “support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan.”

“The two sides welcomed all efforts conducive to peace, stability and development in South Asia," said the statement. “They support the efforts of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terrorism, maintain domestic stability...the two sides are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace and development in that region.”

This will go down poorly in India. Not only has it long argued its relations with Pakistan are a bilateral issue, the joint statement has given the impression the US sees China as the dominant power broker in Asia. The most favourable interpretation is that Washington’s real interest is to persuade Beijing to exert its considerable influence with Pakistan.

The last US-China joint statement that spoke of India was when President Bill Clinton visited Beijing just after India’s 1998 nuclear tests. Clinton was strongly criticised in India for the statement.

my take is very simple the US ADMINISTRATION needs to be sent a copy of the indian constitution highlighting the word SOVEREIGN as they fail to understand that poking their long nose in every world affair will lead to the nose getting messy and bloody.

on a serious note why do we need moniters both india and pakistan can manage themselves better without the us meddling in their affairs anyway this kind of attitude shows obama in poor light

To think that China is going to be neutral with India and Pakistan is like thinking Hyenas graze the fields.

Then again, India has always shunned third party mediation. Even from US, with which we've had better ties than we had with China. So I'd really like to see how China tries to poke its blunt nose into this bilateral issue.

To think that China is going to be neutral with India and Pakistan is like thinking Hyenas graze the fields.

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Chinese aren't *****s, they will not interefere in Indo-Pak, as long as we keep quiet on the Tibet front.
However with the agressive posturing shown by China, the next Lama is surely now coming from Tawang

Chinese aren't *****s, they will not interefere in Indo-Pak, as long as we keep quiet on the Tibet front.

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And you think they wouldn't use the situation (our 'silence') as bargaining chip for their territorial claims? We will have to continue to be vocal about our claims, at the same time, flip the bird at China wanting its seat in Indo-Pak talks. All these years we've managed to keep the US out of it, China won't be tougher.

they are looking down the road at economic competitors, they think they can deal with China but they know they cannot deal with China and India both as competitors, it makes no difference to USA how many soldiers die they are looking at their interests down the road and seem to have sided with China until China stabs them in the back or USA stabs China in the back first, the interesting thing will be to see who screws the other first, never in history has power been shared there never has been two number ones and never will be.

we need to make it clear to USA how much relations we want to maintain with USA , any relations we seem to want to keep with USA has come at a cost to our national security and our leaders have not shown USA the line in the sand , the time has come to show the line.

quite frankly it's a suicidal policy for the usa - a clear indication of surrender by O'bummer to a fast rising china - dividing the world into a china controlled and a usa controlled ( as another poster said earlier on )... wont be as simplistic as that surely

i feel the usa is seriously short of strategic thinkers ( wonder what's happening at the Fleth«cher school of law and diplomacy at Tufts University )

Hilary and Barack have clearly run out of ideas !

the beginning of the end of usa academic leadership in this field ??

it's a chance for the leadership in india to rise to the opportunity to fill the vacuum but are they up to it ?

quite frankly it's a suicidal policy for the usa - a clear indication of surrender by O'bummer to a fast rising china - dividing the world into a china controlled and a usa controlled ( as another poster said earlier on )... wont be as simplistic as that surely

i feel the usa is seriously short of strategic thinkers ( wonder what's happening at the Fleth«cher school of law and diplomacy at Tufts University )

Hilary and Barack have clearly run out of ideas !

the beginning of the end of usa academic leadership in this field ??

it's a chance for the leadership in india to rise to the opportunity to fill the vacuum but are they up to it ?

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Roma it is wiser for us to wait and watch and let number one and number two fight it out why should we get in the middle we will just build up our strength in the meantime and enjoy the show, no reason to pick a side just stay neutral.

Roma it is wiser for us to wait and watch and let number one and number two fight it out why should we get in the middle we will just build up our strength in the meantime and enjoy the show, no reason to pick a side just stay neutral.

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agree - meanwhile , whilst watching and picking the right moment a lot of preparation can and should be done , including hiking up the level of academia , strategic studies and the political decision making processes.

i mentioned strategic thinking in partiicular , because it seems both Obum and his advisor Clintoon havent the foggiest idea !

to hand Taiwan over to China
lose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
dissolve NATO
destroy the dollar
turn USA into a third world country
take USA from a superpower to a welfare state
bankrupt the nation
have Iran go nuclear
destroy the USA-Israeli alliance
make NPT,CTBT,FMCT useless

Roma it is wiser for us to wait and watch and let number one and number two fight it out why should we get in the middle we will just build up our strength in the meantime and enjoy the show, no reason to pick a side just stay neutral.

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Don't you get the new situation? The Chinese and Americans are on better terms with each other than ever. There will not be a fight...co-operation instead will prevail.

Being snubbed by the #1 power and giving the go-ahead for China to do whatever it wants in South Asia has got to hurt. But you gotta see that this was a long time coming, an US Admiral even stated that he wants in increased Chinese Naval presence in the Indian Ocean.

agree - meanwhile , whilst watching and picking the right moment a lot of preparation can and should be done , including hiking up the level of academia , strategic studies and the political decision making processes.

i mentioned strategic thinking in partiicular , because it seems both Obum and his advisor Clintoon havent the foggiest idea !

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there is no thought by anyone in the Obama administration they bankrupted the country to save the banks and give bonuses to wall street and now they are talking of raising taxes in a economic depression to pay for their stupidity.But regardless India just needs to keep pumping out the plutonium and the AGNI'S nothing else India need to do at this time and ignore the noise.

Don't you get the new situation? The Chinese and Americans are on better terms with each other than ever. There will not be a fight...co-operation instead will prevail.

Being snubbed by the #1 power and giving the go-ahead for China to do whatever it wants in South Asia has got to hurt. But you gotta see that this was a long time coming, an US Admiral even stated that he wants in increased Chinese Naval presence in the Indian Ocean.

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if you are japanese why the hell do you care about USA and China fighting??